Five Hollywood Myths and Legends–I Wish Would Go Away!!

There are dozens of Hollywood myths and legends out there. But some of them have been explained. We know what was really going on but rather than fade away some people continue to insist the legend is true. And this gets on my nerves!


Here are five examples of what I mean


Three Men and a Baby Ghost



It wasn’t a ghost!! I’m sorry, let me start at the beginning.This was a really decent comedy starring Tom Selleck, Steveb Guttenberg, and Ted Danson. It pisses me off that this ghost is the films legacy. I think we all know the story, there is a scene where Ted Danson and  Celeste Holm walk past a window. And in the window is something..odd. At first glance it looks someone standing there. Legend grew that it was a ghost of a child who was killed in the home where they shot the movie. Ok, first of all they shot the movie on a soundstage not a real apartment. Second, upon closer inspection it’s clearly a cardboard cutout of Ted Danson. The same one we see in a different scene closeup. I get the feeling some lazy prop guy left it there, and voila! A movie legend is born. And people refuse to let this go even insisting there is a gun somewhere in the film which is what as used to kill the boy. Puh-leese!!







Wizard of Oz Munchkin Suicide



Oh we all know this one! I first came across this in a book I had called Film Flubs. The legend is during the second “We’re off the see the Wizard” number you can see a munchkin in the background hanging himself. Yes, really. The photo was in black and white but I just had to see it for myself. So my brother and I put the video in, and it was very obvious this was just a bird that had wandered into the shot. One of the same birds we clearly see few minutes earlier. It’s even more obvious in the remastered version. WHY DO PEOPLE KEEP BELIEVING THIS!! I know it was 1939 but do you really think that NO ONE would have noticed this? Or, even if they didn’t, that they would have kept that in the film if that’s what it truly was?? Some people refuse to let this go even insisting that the scene I described above was the wrong one, and it’s another scene where you can see the hanging munchkin. Right. This has been discredited and discredited and yet people still refuse to let it go! I like to watch the videos of these on YouTube and just shake my head at these oddball conspiracy theories.







Goldfinger Girl Actually Died


I’ve said before that I was not the biggest James Bong fan ever. But one moment I always remembered was in Goldfinger. It was the scene where the character Jill Masterson was killed. How did she die? She was literally painted gold and thus suffocated. It’s quite a scene, so much so that many people are convinced the actress literally died! Yeah because they would have kept that in people. The actress was Shirley Eaton and she is still alive and well actually. She does modeling and has done other work. And she had no trouble filming the scene at all. Why do people make this mistake?? True we now know that painting gold all over your body will not kill you. But this scene is still very chilling and one I never forgot.




Sex in The Lion King


At least the phallic symbol on the Little Mermaid cover can be clearly seen. Why is this so important to people? The scene is simple, Simba is sad and plops down on the ground When he does, some spores or whatever fly in the sky and seem to spell out the words SEX. According to the creators, it was supposed to be SFX as in special effects. Now I am not going get into why the animators thought this was clever, or would be missed. Instead let’s discuss what everyone things those letters are. SEX of course. I have watched the scene and it is just to hard to be sure. However, I tend to believe that no one would be stupid enough to make it SEX unless they wanted to lose their jobs pretty fast. Yeah there are other Disney examples I could discuss including Jessica Rabbit from Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but that’s a subject for another time. I have one simple question regarding this–WHO THE HELL CARES????????







Poltergeist/Superman Curse


I think that both of these have kind of faded away but I decided it was worth mentioning. They both basically involve the same thing, that people involved with these franchises end up hurt or even worst. The Superman one began with George Reeves tragic (and still unsolved) death. Add in the tragedy of Chrisopher Reeve’s accident and Margot Kidder’s mental health and suddenly everyons is calling curse. There are other examples but they are more far fetched. And since we have had more versions where the actors have been just fine, this has faded a bit. The Poltergeist one is much sadder. The idea that there could be a curse comes because of the following events. Dominique Dunne, who played the eldest daughter Dana in the first movie, died after being strangled by her abusive former boyfriend. Julian Beck, who played Henry Kane in Poltergeist II: The Other Side, died of stomach cancer diagnosed before he had accepted the role. Will Sampson, who played Taylor the medicine man in Poltergeist II, died as a result of post-operative kidney failure and pre-operative malnutrition problems. And maybe the saddest, Heather O’Rourke, who played Carol Anne in all three Poltergeist movies, died  during surgery to repair an acute bowel obstruction.


All of these are sad but also coincidence. That there could be a curse is a little hard to believe. Especially considering how many cast members from both franchises are doing just fine.



I guess some people just like trying to make up silly conspiracy theories even if they are against all common sense. Well we can always laught at these silly stories. They aren’t nearly as offiensice as some real world conspiracy theories I could discuss.